Hunger in the Territory

A life a solid work and a loving family do not guarantee some people will be able to celebrate Christmas this year. As one Palmerston father describes, struggling for basic food needs was not something he never imagined for himself.

Norm Faint is one of hundreds of people who benefits from food from Foodbank NT - a non-profit that collects and distributes free food from supermarkets and manufacturers for people in need.

Every Thursday, Norm travels from Palmerston to Casuarina with his wife to a Foodbank NT outlet, where he can access groceries for just a small handling fee.

"I'm on an aged pension, so we look forward to it every week. Sometimes there're free donations of milk which is a help too, and cakes and bread. Other than that we look at things like noodles, rice and a few fresh veggies."

Norm worked in different government departments most of his life, but never managed to save a solid superannuation.

At the Foodbank NT outlet - a Baptist-run "Food for Life" program, he chats with other people struggling to make ends meet. Single parents, low-income families and migrants all gather here with one common experience: hunger.

Food for Life team leader Annette Kent says for many people in the Territory, food is at the bottom of the list after rising rents and utility costs.

Annette welcomes clients into their miniature supermarket cafe and helps people select a week's worth of food.

"When someone says they only have meat on Thursday, when they get a pack from our freezer and they barbeque it that night because they don't have a fridge, well, that brings a tear to your eye," she said.

Lorraine Ahmat is another pensioner who relies on food from Foodbank NT every week.

"It makes it so much easier and it will be so much more important when all these new increases come in," she said.

On the pensions, Lorraine says she no longer can afford to eat out, as is increasingly conscious of her power and petrol usage.

Without the access to Foodbank food she says she would "half starve".

"I'd have to cut it down to one good meal a day," she said.

Foodbank NT delivered the equivalent of 13,000 meals last month through 90 partner organisations like Food for Life. Some deliver the food to schools for children who would usually miss breakfast, some to remote communities and some to homeless people.

With Christmas in sight, Foodbank NT is now looking to create more than 600 Christmas hampers to distribute to those who would otherwise go without.